compound sentence

American  

noun

compound sentences plural

1. a sentence containing two or more coordinate independent clauses, usually joined by one or more conjunctions, but no dependent clause, as The lightning flashed (independent clause) and (conjunction) the rain fell (independent clause).

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compound sentence British  

noun

1. a sentence containing at least two coordinate clauses

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compound sentence Cultural  

1. A sentence that contains at least two independent clauses, often joined by conjunctions: “Dr. Watson explained his theory, and Sherlock Holmes listened quietly.” (Compare complex sentence, compound-complex sentence, and simple sentence.)

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• compound sentences
  plural

Etymology

Origin of compound sentence

First recorded in 1765–75

Compare meaning

How does compound-sentence compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• compound sentence vs. complex sentence
• simple sentence vs. compound sentence

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

compound sentence

And and but rarely begin sentences; in nearly all cases it will be found that the sentences they purport to connect are but the independent clauses of one compound sentence.

From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)

Certainly the last two sentences could be united into a compound sentence, nor would it be straining the structure to put all three sentences into one.

From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)

A comma is used to separate the independent clauses of a compound sentence sufficiently involved to necessitate some mark of punctuation, and yet not involved enough to require marks of different ranks.

From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)

If two or more clauses, grammatically complete and not joined by a conjunction, are to form a single compound sentence, the proper mark of punctuation is a semicolon.

From A Foreword to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition by James, Juliet Helena Lumbard

The compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses.

From Public Speaking by Stratton, Clarence